NBA scores: Bobcats and Knicks win their season openers, Harden scores 45 for Rockets

Clippers 105, Lakers 95

That’s right: the Los Angeles Lakers are 0-3. In the season’s first battle of Los Angeles, the Clippers got a balanced effort and a second straight awesome game from Jamal Crawford (21 points on 5-12 shooting). Chris Paul dropped 15 assists with one turnover. Kobe Bryant had 40 points on 14-23 shooting, but Dwight Howard’s line wasn’t too notable (13 points, eight rebounds, five blocks) and Steve Nash sat. When will the Lakers’ streak end? (Hopefully never.)

Knicks 104, Heat 84

I’m not really sure how to explain this, but the Knicks’ starters killed the Heat’s starters. Carmelo Anthony scored 30 and the Knicks hit better than 50 percent from three. The Heat had far too many turnovers. I guess maybe they felt bad for the Lakers?

The story of the game was turnovers, and the Clippers scored 25 points off the Lakers’ 20 giveaways. The Lakers also had no answer for the Clippers’ athleticism as was evidenced by the disparity in fast break points, where the Clippers outscored the Lakers 21-10.

The Lakers fell to 0-3 in a disappointing start to the 2012-2013 season, and the Clippers improved to 2-0 with the win.

(via @jose3030).

Rush appeared to injure his knee on a dunk attempt during the second quarter. After banging his knee on the attempt, Rush was in obvious pain while attempting to walk it off. According to the Warriors, Rush was taken into the locker room for X-rays. He will undergo an MRI on Saturday to determine the extent of the injury.

Warriors beat writer Marcus Thompson said it looked like Rush may have suffered a serious knee injury, possibly a torn ACL or dislocated knee cap. If the injury is indeed serious, it would be a big loss for the Warriors. Rush, in his second season with the Warriors, is one of the key contributors off the bench.

Turkoglu had six points, two steals, two rebounds and one assist in 16:42 before leaving with the injury. He left the game at the 8:03 mark of the third quarter. On Orlando’s previous possession, Turkoglu led a Magic fast break and scored on a driving layup. It is unclear exactly when he suffered the injury, and at this point, it is not known when Turkoglu might be able to return to action.

Last season with Orlando, Turkoglu averaged 10.9 points, 3.8 rebounds and 4.4 assists in 31.2 minutes per game. In his career, the 13-year veteran has averaged 12.0 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.1 assists in 28.7 minutes.

Nash bruised his left leg on Wednesday night in the Lakers’ loss to the Portland Trailblazers. He was injured just before halftime and came back out in the second half, but he did not last long and had to limp back to the the locker room, unable to play. He appeared to be in a lot of pain as he exited the floor and while the team did not rule him out until this evening, it was always considered unlikely that he would play against the Clippers.

While Nash’s absence will obviously be a blow to the struggling Lakers, it is also a knock to everyone who wanted to see him take on Paul in a battle of two of the NBA’s best point guards. Instead, everyone will have to wait for one of the three other Lakers versus Clippers match-ups this season.

Here’s a full look at Friday night’s schedule:

Miami Heat vs. New York Knicks, 8 p.m.